The Trump Card. A Description of Reality.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35552030

Take a look at Trump's nominations for the highest levels of government. Virtually every appointment is someone that detests the Agencies that they are to manage. Why? Because their job is to destroy the "effectiveness" of those agencies, that is if they are not successful in actually dismantling the agencies in their entirety. Trump's reality is one in which the most ideal society is one that is run by those people that control the world distribution of resources (Exxon, Monsanto, Alibaba, Gazprom, Glencore, etc.). For Trump, a democracy is absurd. Trump *would be* a follower of Ayn Rand, that is, if he read at all. Trump's reality does not include books. He is functionally illiterate. At least that is what *he* has said.

How in the world can a complex society be governed by people that do not understand how the economy works? They can't ... *if* ... one's concept of governmental function is to aid the good guys in building a perfect world and stopping the bad guys from damaging the effort. Bad guys should not be voting. The success of said society is measured by the amount of profit made. Ones "importance" to society is directly related to the amount of resources/cash that they control. It makes no sense to Trump nor to his supporters nor to the Republican Party that anyone *but* the 1 percent should be *allowed* to determine the rules by which society is managed.

The first rule of this new 'elite' is that there are *no rules* for the good guys whose job it is to fight evil (them). The very first action that the new Congress took was to attempt to abolish the Ethics Committee. Rules are to be applied to control the evil nature of those that *call themselves* Homo sapiens, but are not really quite there yet. One must free the good guys (them) to create a wonderful society and one must control the "less gifted" (the rest of us) with laws to stop us from damaging society. Rules do not apply to them because they are working for good. Rules only apply to the evil ones to stop them from destroying society.

Jess Session's nomination for Attorney General is particularly instructive. Sessions is one of the most virulent racists in American politics and has been for his entire career. His appointment speaks loudly to Trumps desire to make sure that the disruptions caused by the "less enlightened" be controlled. There is ample evidence that Trump *believes* in his heart and soul that the reason that American has been successful is because the "white race" (yes, I know that there is no such thing) has a more effective reality model (genetically superior) than the "other races" and that the "almost humans" are trying to take over governance, which would result in the destruction modern civilization (built by them, of course). The unenlightened must be stopped from doing this, for the good of humanity. Jeff Sessions has been working for this his entire life. He is the best able to manage the systems that were designed to stop the bad guys from damaging his country. He is the best qualified for this task. Trump has indeed found the best man for the job.

Property values fall when "non-whites" move into a upper class neighborhoods (White neighborhoods) . This is a clear indication to Trump) that non-whites, if left to their own devices will damage the economic structures that he has worked hard to create. He has personally denied non-whites housing in units that he controls. He has said clearly that many of Americas economic woes, derive directly from immigrants. He probably does not see this as racism or hatred of non-whites; it is an economic fact, so it cannot possible be racist. He loves non-whites, they can't help it if they are not equipped to be fully human. He feels sorry for them but still, he must control them from damaging society. He has ample evidence that they, in fact, do damage society ... as *he* envisions it.

Unfortunately Trump thinks that *his* vision of society and the vision of his friends (Putin, for example) is the only *real* and accurate description of "reality". The rest of us are either uninformed, misinformed, uneducated, lying for our own benefit, or outright evil ... in that order of escalation. He *does* give his opponents the benefit of the doubt; he starts the enlightenment process by assuming the person who disagrees is just "uninformed". Magnanimously Trump will attempt to help the poor fool. Total failure to "educated" the deluded soul will result in the "evil" label. One is *obliged*, by all morality and good sense, to eliminate evil, by whatever means possible; it is his job, at least as he perceives it. The use of vengeance, torture, and deadly force are tools to be employed in the eradication of the evil that will destroy society as he envisions it. At least that is what *he* has said.

The justice system must therefore, be specifically tailored, to treat each level of society differently, *if* the good guys are to win this battle for the benefit of the human race. Full privilege is only to be given to those that are fully aware (real humans, not those that just look, on the surface to be human, blacks, for example). Traditionally this means rich white folks, the ones that actually understand how the system must be structured for it to be successful. Practically speaking, this means those that agree with them. They don't appreciate me, for example. Jeff Sessions is the man with the proven track record to do the job. This is why he was nominated.

Trump has been appointing the top White Supremacists and Racists in the political world to the very top positions in his future administration. He is appointing people to deconstruct many of the social systems that have taken 200 yr to develop. He is appointing the 0.1 percent to govern the country. He said that is what he was going to do before the election and he is doing it. His campaign promise was to dismantle the political control of economic and legal structures as they exist.

To some readers, it may seem that I am being dramatic and exaggerating. I am not. What Trump and the American people have done is dramatic; I am just describing it. All that I am doing is presenting a coherent Reality Model that might explain behavior that I have observed. Everything that I describe within this reality model has been openly debated and discussed on the House and in the Senate floors and in the editorial pages of both major and minor newspapers throughout the country for the last 200 years. No, I am not exaggerating, at all. Go look for yourselves.

Americans just elected an illiterate man to be the President of the most powerful and dangerous country on the planet. He himself has stated that he has not read a book his entire adult life. Let that sink in. The man cannot read and does not see the importance of reading and he controls the most powerful and aggressive military on the planet. *Seventy five* percent of the American people have no real objection to this. "Hey let's give him a chance."

There is an virulent intellectual/emotional pathogen that is ravaging the US population at the moment. Maybe it has always been present and modern technology has allowed it to grow and/or allows us to see it for the first time? I don't know, probably. American Culture is in very deep shit and the sharks have already begun to circle. Oh well.

"Belief kills thought: fact is different than opinion: thinking is different than feeling."

 Read the letter Coretta Scott King wrote opposing Sessions’s 1986 federal nomination

Alternate Realities - Donald Trump and Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz and Donald Trump

 Donald Trump and Ted Cruz do not live in the same world as as many of us do; They have a completely different reality in their heads, literally.  As they wander through this thing we call time and space their brains seek information to be used for understanding what is happening and for reassurance that what they think is 'correct' among other things. The important things, things that they consider useful for interpreting the world and for making predictions, they store into memory. Brains do not store everything into memory. It is selective in what it keeps and what it discards. Memories are what form our reality, nothing else. Memories *are* our reality, our personal realities. What Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have stored in their memory banks is not the same as many others.

It is not clear to me that either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz are even aware that other 'realities' exist. Both of these people are behaving as though theirs is only  possible take on 'reality' and that they have been, for whatever reason, privilege to see it. The rest of us are idiots and/or useful tools to be used in accomplishing what they would like to accomplish. The only 'real people' to them are those that see/remember approximately the same things that they do. Donald Trump or Ted Cruz understand and respect these other 'real people' for their ability to see things as they 'really are'. At least, this is the way that they speak and behave. They are both clever at manipulating their physical and social environment; they are very smart people.  But they seem to believe that they alone are privileged to see reality 'as it really is'. They do not seem capable of stepping outside of their own personal realities, or even to realize that what they perceive is *not* necessarily 'real'.

Donald Trump and Ted Cruz do not live in the same world as as many of us do; here is how. People gather information to confirm what they 'believe' or that they find useful. These are things that the brain likes and seeks out for future reference. The brain is interested in prediction and when it fails the exceptions are noted and are presented to the conscious mind for 'consideration'. Consideration refers to a conscious effort to rationalize unexpected observations. The conscious mind looks for ways to integrate the unexpected observations into the brains preexisting Individual Reality Models (Belief System). If the conscious mind cannot do this, it then seeks reasons (rationalizes) to reject the information; the conscious mind finds the "extenuating conditions" which will nullify the negative effects of a problem and leave the Reality Model intact if possible, or it will modify the Model to the minimum degree possible. This is how the brain works, as far as I can tell, with everyone, myself included.

There is a wonderful psychology experiment where people are asked to keep track of something complex and give their answer at the end which, they do. At the end of the experiment during debriefing they are asked about the naked lady  (OK, it was a gorilla) that walked through the middle of the court and the middle of ones focal point.  Only about half of the people even see the gorilla. It is not part of Individual Reality, at all. The memory is not accessible to the conscious mind. Even just one second after an event, all one has is what the brain decided to retain. Individual Reality *is* memory and memories are chosen by each individual brain according to its own individual Reality Model and according to what it considers important or is searching for at the time.

This may be a bit easier to swallow by washing it down with the following analogy. The brain seeks out information to build a functioning intellectual structure that can interpret and predict 'reality'. Useful observations are collected and broken down into the material which is used to build and maintain an intellectual structure or interpretation of the world, which I call 'Individual Reality'. Information is sought out and digested and used 'intellectually' in the same manner that that an individual seeks out food for the the body and stores it in the stomach as it is broken down into its fundamental building blocks (i.e. protein), which are then incorporated into the physical body.

Some people, however, have one other process going on. Some are fully conscious that their brain makes mistakes and what it presents to the conscious mind is often wrong. This is the whole point of 'scientific' thought process and the null hypothesis. Many people actually believe the things that their brains come up with. Many people don't. Ones 'reality', the world in which they live is constructed of the things that the brain has decided to store, nothing else. People store different things into memory.

Ted Cruz and Donald Trump really are living in a different reality. I mean the literally. They do not "see" the same things that you do. They do not "hear" the same things that you do. All they have is their own individual memory of the event, nothing else. What I am saying, less delicately put, is that it is not clear to me that either of these people are endowed with the property of a brain that is taken to be 'uniquely human', the ability to recognize and step out of their own Individual Realities.

The Liberal/Conservative Divide

Russell Square, London, England. A Street View photo I found in the Square named after the philosopher Bertrand Russell (my favorite) I thought the photo appropriate.

There are a lot of people and I mean a lot of conservatives, who see Donald Trump as the only real leader on the presidential stage today. For the Republican side, I agree with them. Many of these conservatives think that the Democratic candidates are idiotic *liberals* that are ruining the country and that they should not even be considered seriously. Based on factual history, Clinton and Sanders and the liberals in general are totally destroying the country; this is evident and clear to anyone that cares to take even the most superficial look around. The United States of America needs to be taken back by people that can discuss issues as they really are; people like Sanders and Clinton have demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt their intentions and approach. This really needs to stop. The liberal elite is killing the country dead and if we do not get it straight the US is finished as the worlds leader. This is as clear as day to a large number of people. Huge numbers of people.

I know personally people that are highly intelligent and understand the use of maths and logic and have studied the issues and political systems for years that believe the above with their whole hearts and souls. To them Obama and Clinton and Sanders and "Liberals" are total idiots that are in the process of destroying the country. I exaggerate, but not by much. This is not new; it has been simmering on the back burner for a very long time. So what is happening? Here is an idea that at least fits the data and renders coherent the strange twist that vocabulary has taken in the last few (50 or so, at least) years. No, I do not "believe" this idea. It fits the data and may even lead in a productive direction. Hell, it might even be correct but I don't know. Allow me to put some paint on the canvas.

People have been attacking the concept of 'political correctness' for a long time. This has always seemed appropriate to me, at least in the sense that it does not seem productive to insult the people around us, but hey, that is just an idea floating around in my head; I could be wrong, evolution is a powerful force. Another strange concept to me is the idea that 'the press is liberal' when, almost by definition, the press is not liberal with any generally accepted dictionary definition of the term. The concept of 'elite', the term was a positive attribute at one time; it no longer is. The words 'liberal' and 'conservative' have morphed radically in their meaning as well. There is a powerful force at play here; what is it?

All of this comes together if one considers that many people have been feeling oppressed because the ideas and desires that float around in their heads have been impossible to express in public without being viciously attacked by the *liberals* and the guys the run the newspapers, the *elite*. *Conservatives* are called racist and stupid for traditional ideas and *facts* that anyone can *observe*. There are many who have been hiding in their closets with thoughts running around in their heads that have been deemed 'inappropriate' by the culture as a whole. They have been hiding in their closets fearful of the repercussions of even discussing the important issues of the day. They see the country falling apart and they cannot even discuss the major causes of this without the liberals destroying their social existence.

It has been considered politically incorrect for quite a few years, for instance, to call black folks as a group, "lazy niggers" but those indeed are the thoughts that rattle around in some peoples brains (oddly enough in some black brains as well). It the same with poor people (lazy) and sick people (bad lifestyle) and Homosexuals (evil aberrations). Many want to isolate those that they consider a detriment to the human race; they want nothing to do with them; they want the gone. This is true with many other animal species as well. Isolating and/or killing those that are annoyingly different is common; it would be foolish to think that humans are totally immune to what affects the entire animal kingdom. Why the devil would one encourage the traits that will eventually destroy the culture and/or the economic engine that feeds it? Clearly it would be silly to encourage that which will destroy one, either slowly or quickly.

Evolution is a powerful force. Heck, It is so important that it has been dictated by God himself; destroy that which will destroy you; one must throw the first stone to survive. Practically speaking and theoretically, this is good advice; at least I think so. Unfortunately, in order to follow this practical survival technique, it is necessary to *know* what is going to destroy/damage an individual and/or a civilization; it is necessary to understand motivation, etc., at least when dealing with other human beings. Unfortunately because these items are impossible to know. All we know is that they violate our own personal take on reality. And it has been definitively demonstrated that personal interpretations of reality are heavily flawed and mostly wrong. Understanding motivation and good and evil and morality is less important when eradicating the non-human microbes that kill people.

*Conservatives* see nothing wrong with their ideas because their ideas are well supported by observation, look at the *data*. It is clear as one's own eye color that the homosexual lifestyle will indeed destroy the family as they know it; they find the concept of one of their children choosing to be homosexual abhorrent. It certainly would not have come from them so, it must come from homosexuals that trick their children into a life of sin. Of course homosexuals need to be isolated and eliminated, it is a disease. This is clear for anyone to see, yet these idiotic *liberals* behave in a way the will spread the disease. They are clearly nuts. They will destroy the culture. The homosexual lifestyle must be stopped. We are commanded by God to destroy that which will destroy us, are we not?

I do not know, but I suspect the many conservatives find it annoying that one cannot speak frankly about other important topics concerning the reality of the world as well. Another example of might be 'the way the people are'. 'Playing the race card' is now a popular expressions when it comes to responding to liberal accusations. Why is that? What does it actually mean? Perhaps this will help. It is impossible to openly discuss the observable fact that blacks are indeed lazy and violent at least statistically; the *liberals* will have nothing to do with it and make it impossible to discuss the fundamentals of differences between the races. These things need to be talked about, it is important; but they cannot be discussed in this atmosphere that is controlled by the *liberal elite*. They will destroy the country by turning over hard earned work to lazy people; it will destroy incentive and will eventually kill the American spirit. The US was built on hard work and now it is impossible to even discuss the issue without very negative social consequences. These things are important and need to be discussed. This is one of the major reasons that the country is going to hell. The weak and lazy have taken over and they will destroy the country. The country needs to be taken back by the people that understand and can see things as they really are. These topics cannot even be discussed properly with the liberals in charge. Liberal want to pretend that everyone is nice and hard-working and capitalism is evil. Liberals live in a fantasy land. I am pretty sure that this is the way the argument goes.

Some conservatives would agree with the statement that "Liberals are dumb and do not live in the 'real world'." This statement is true, in my opinion. But, I can say the same of 'Conservatives' as well. In fact, I can say the same about everyone on the planet, including myself and including all species that have the structure we call a brain; it is a consequence of having a brain and consciousness and physical devices that record a portion of what happens around us. It should not be considered an insult to say that a person or group of persons do not see the world as it is; no one does. None of our interpretations of 'reality' are correct. We do not experience existence as it exists independent of our own personal existence. We do not understand time and our entire 3 dimensional interpretation of space has been demonstrated wrong, definitively. Everyone lives in a fantasy land to some extent and many of us know that. That is why we have developed physical and intellectual tools to help sort all of this out. We have thermometers to end the arguments about the temperature. We have developed logic as a way to identify fallacious arguments. We have developed the scientific method to help choose between different ideas. There are a myriad of physical and intellectual tools to help create a reasonable reality model that can by supported by the entire population without bloodshed. We have developed tools because no one, not anyone, sees the world as it actually is, everyone lives in a fantasy land.

No, I do not know what is rattling around inside another person's brain no matter how clear that it seems. No, I do not know what another persons motivations are, nor can I know even if they tell me; people lie to themselves all the time; they don't really know themselves. I can only guess at my own motivations. 'Facts', that which can be measured independently are a bit more reliable for constructing our Reality Models. But, our interpretations of these facts are astoundingly unreliable. Yes, a stranger gave me the 'thumbs up'. I assume he meant good job, but ... it also means 'stick it up your ass'. So, hell, I can't even be sure of that; I really don't know what he means with his "thumbs up" gesture; I make an educated guess which in many situations will be accurate. But to actually *believe* that our interpretations are absolutely correct and build our entire reality structure on the *fact* that a stranger gave me a sign that I interpret as meaning that I have done a good job seems like madness to me. Sure, we think that is what he meant, can act on it and often,it will work but often it will result in disaster as well.(innocent gestures that can get you killed overseas). So how to figure it out? Like I said we have a catalogue of tools. Pity that so many people don't know how to use the tools or even that they are necessary. Some do not even know that they exist.

I suppose that it is normal that many people think that what they see is real and if the interpretation makes sense then it is true. I suppose that it is normal that people think that others emotional response of most people is the same as what they themselves feel. That being the case there is no real need to define terms like: liberal, conservative, fact, opinion, lazy, elite, Christian, hot, cold, good, bad. We all know what we mean. Well, we all know what we mean by those terms but we have only the vaguest notion of what other people mean by those terms. What is hot for you may not be hot for me. What is good for you may be bad for me. A leader for you may not be a leader for me. So what the hell are you talking about? This is where facts come into the picture, they help straighten out what is real from that which is a personal sensation and nothing more. They help us sort out what is real for both of us.

I suppose it is normal to believe that our ideas are the best ideas, they are the ones that are correct. After all they are based upon what we see clearly in the world and they are coherent, they make sense, they are correct, at least to us. Here is how the discussion goes for someone that *believes* what they think. One can see this played out every day in almost any political/religious discussion between 'believers':

--The other guy has not been paying attention; he can be shown. Did not work?
--He has missed something, one can teach him. He still does not agree?
--He is thinking about it wrong? one can demonstrate the correct thought process. Still not there?
--He is just not very smart and can never understand? Oh, he is smart?
--He has an economic investment? No?
--He is lying to fool me. I expose his lie. Still not convinced?
--He is evil, he does not care, he wants to destroy for the sake of destruction.
--He or his idea needs to be destroyed. Evil must die. We have war.

Belief Kills Thought, by definition.
Opinions are different than fact.
Emotion and thinking are different processes.